thepharoah

Probably FIVB would say "we needed more matches" or something. With quarterfinals they had no excuse, they only lose 2 matches and it was 200% more fair for everyone. 

It was so easy to have 8 teams advancing from the previous round and make a normal quarterfinals but no, we have this joke with teams playing reserves, uneven schedules and points calculation.

Timetable and qualification system has been released.
https://www.iaaf.org/competitions/iaaf-world-championships/news/2019-iaaf-world-athletics-championships-timet
 
We will have midnight running. Both Marathons starts at midnight local time. Also the Race Walking events start at around midnight. On day 8, October 4, the last event of the heptathlon, the 800m, has been scheduled for 12.05 am, which will be followed at 12.15am by the last event of the decathlon, the 1,500m.
 
Qualification system:
Individual athletes can qualify in one of three ways:
- being among the best ranked athletes at the end of the qualification period as per the IAAF World Rankings.
- by Wild Card as the reigning world champion outdoors, winner of the 2019 IAAF Diamond League or leader (as at closing date of the final entries) of the IAAF Hammer Throw Challenge, IAAF Race Walk Challenge or IAAF Combined Events Challenge. Member federations will be allowed one Wild Card entry per discipline, with a maximum of four athletes from any one country allowed entry into each discipline, in addition to a reserve.
- by achieving the entry standard within the qualification period in accordance with criteria decided by IAAF. Entry standards, which will be determined on 1 November 2018, will be set for the sole purpose of qualifying athletes with exceptional performances who are unable to qualify through the IAAF World Rankings pathway.
File: https://media.aws.iaaf.org/competitioninfo/791203d1-be0e-4047-8a42-1b33994d000c.pdf
 
 

but is is funny that we (Serbia + Poland) kicked out first France and now probably Italy. We don't like European teams.

The two unseeded teams will be the 5th and 6th highest ranked nations in Europe/Africa Zone after the ties in October 2018 based on the Davis Cup ranking. 
 

 
These are the teams who still have a chance. Top 2 will take the spots for next year's Davis Cup qualifier :

Here comes the complicated part:
Isreal don't play anymore matches so their points stand.
Ukraine is out beacuse they have no matches left and is not in the top 2 of these 5 teams.
Slovakia plays against Belarus at home in October. The Davis Cup ranking is really complicated, but according to my math Slovakia is also out beacuse they can only get a maximum of 175 points, which is just short of Portugal.
If Belarus wins against Slovakia, they take a top 2 spot
Portugal meets South Africa in October. If Portugal wins, they are secured a spot. 
 
So the scenario is:
Isreal only qualifies if both Belarus and Portugal lose.
Belarus qualfies if they win.
Portugal qualifies if they win.
 
 

and the Japanese second-tier fighter surprises Clerget...
 
so, it's all over: Japan 4-1 France
 
Japan, as expected, win the Gold Medal in the Mixed Team Event (and France must be satisfied with Silver)...

Mixed Team World Championship
 
Japan and France will fight for the Gold medal after beating respectively the Unified Korean team and Russia in the semifinals...
 
the Bronze Medal contests will see Russia facing Azerbaijan and the Unified Korean team facing Germany...

I agree.. Brazil will probably win the whole thing now.. 

I'm still very sure that Poland will be the team that misses out from this pool.
If you are italian believe in me, I'm the oracle of volleyball (?).

10 days to go 

This's difinetely the weakest mentally Russian team i've seen in volleyball , such losers  Good job Brazil 

Nigeria still had to go through Turkey to get to this position. It's a big win for them and the region.

Nigeria qualifies to Quarters 

The formula for women is almost identical. The difference is that in the 2nd round there will be 2 pools of 8 teams instead of 4 pools of 4. Top teams will play 13 matches.

Youth Olympic Park:
 

 
More images from the venues:
 
 

Egypt

and finally, after 5 years of troubles (mental and physical), Tiger is back...
he won the Tour Championship tournament in Atlanta and almost took also the big prize money, which was instead won by Justin Rose thanks to a birdie in the final hole of the day...
and from Friday, it's Ryder Cup time (on one of the most beautiful golf courses in the world, Le Golf National in St.Quintin just outside Paris)...I just can't wait...

Doesn't everyone have a broken controller at home? I know I do, more than one.

I’m so pumped!!! It looks like the NBC Olympic Channel will broadcast the games on actual TV here in the US, or at the very least the opening ceremony and various highlights. 

This's Nigeria 1st ever victory in their WC history , for Senegal this's the 5th ever victory as they defeated Malaysia, Zaire, Tunisia and Nigeria  history was really made today for Africa 

This's Nigeria 1st ever victory in their WC history , for Senegal this's the 5th ever victory as they defeated Malaysia, Zaire, Tunisia and Nigeria  history was really made today for Africa 

African teams

You guys talk as if the games will be in Paris or Budapest but they will be in Tokyo. Sorry, but home advantage always makes a team perform to the best (or close to) of their capabilities. This is a law of olympics, tested and proven every 4 years. Japan with less than 5 or 6 golds would be a disaster for them.
 

actually Albayrak is not even Greek, since he was born in Georgia with the original name of Vano Revazishvili, then changed in Roman Moustopoulos when he moved to Greece...
 
so, we can say he's a journeyman, to say the least...